CHRONIC STRESS AND THE MEASUREMENT OF PERCEIVED EMOTIONAL DISTRESS IN MEDICINE & HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY

The central purpose of this study is to describe the Perceived Emotional Distress Inventory (PEDI) and point out its usefulness in the field of health psychology. The conceptual framework that guided the development of the PEDI, factor structure, internal consistency, and construct validity are reported. Item responses were examined by Factor Analyses of Principal Components with promax rotations. The PEDI presents three subscales that assesses Anxiety/Depression, Hopelessness, and Anger Expression as components of perceived emotional distress in cancer patients. We also discuss the important implications of replicating these results in the different regions of Latin America.